Improvement in tables



W. S. SHURTLEFF.

. TABLE. No. 188,196. Patented March 6,1877.

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UNrrED STATES PATENT @rrrfir.

WILLIAM S. SHURTLEFF, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TABLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [88,196, dated March 6, 1877; application filed December 26, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,WILLIAM S. SHURTLEFF, of Springfield, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Tables, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of a gang of drawers in the form of a wheel, capable of being rotated immediately beneath the solid top of a table, to which it is attached, so as to enable any one of the drawers to be brought to a position opposite a person at the table to be slided out beyond the edge of the table-top, to afford access thereto.

My invention also relates to the construe tion of a table provided witha rotating gang of drawers, whereby the gang is secured from turning and the series of drawers concealed.

In the drawings, Fig. I is a vertical section through the center of the table. Fig. II is a plan view of the table With its top removed. Fig. III shows a variation in the form of the drawers; and Fig. 1V shows a modification of the method illustrated in Fig. I, of supporting the gang of drawers.

Incas'ed in a drum formed by the top A of the table, a corresponding disk, B, and. the sideO, is the carrier D, uponwhich the drawers 11 rest. This carrier itself rests upon the bottom of the drum, and is free to turn within the drum and around the post E as a center. The post E is a prolongation of the stand or leg F, and the leg and the drum are rigidly attached. An opening is provided in the side 0 of the drum corresponding in size to the end of a draw, and through this opening the hand has access to the carrier to revolve it until the desired drawer comes in position to be extended through the opening. By moving one of the drawers into the opening until its face is flush with the outside of the rim 0, it is evident that the carrier D will be locked and none of the drawers accessible, so that by causing any one of the drawers to lock in this position all of the others are secured, while the table presents the appearance of containing only one drawer.

In order that the position of any drawer opposite the opening may not become accidentally changed, and in order that any drawer may be left unlocked Without any movement given to it affecting the carrier, I

arrange a spring stop or pawl, H, which, projecting through the bottom B of the drum, is forced by its spring to catch in holes or notches in the carrier, arranged in a circle having its axis coincident with that of the revolution of the carrier and relatively to the drawers to cause the carrier to be locked when a drawer is exactly opposite the opening in the rim 0.

To operate this catch more conveniently, I bring a rod, h, attached to the pawl, as shown in Fig. I, down through the standard F, and provide its lower end with a treadle, so that to set free the carrier and drawers, it is only necessary to bear upon this treadle until a drawer is in the required position. If desired, more than one opening may be in the rim 0 as an exit for the drawers d, either to enable more thanone to use the table at the same time, or to admit of the position being changed at the table. If it is desired to use all of the available space within the drum. the drawers may be formed, as shown in Fig. III, to be segments of the circle outlined by the rim 0.

As an obvious modification of the principle of my invention, as above set forth, the drawers d may be suspended in guides upon the lower side of a carrier that is itself suspended from a circular track upon the under side of the table top, as shown in Fig. 1V, and the rim 0 may be used to conceal all of the drawers but one while assisting to lock them, or may be dispensed with entirely to leave still to the table the important advantange of a number of drawers that may be brought in turn into position to be used by sliding any one out clear of the edge of the top without the necessity of a change of position at the table, or of disturbing anything upon the top of a table whose entire bearingsurface can thus be utilized.

posed by' being slided out clear of the tableedge, as set forth.

2. In combination with a fixed table-top, A, provided with a dependent rim or side, 0, which has one or more openings corresponding in size to the end of drawers d, the wheel of drawers D evolving beneath the top A with the rigid bottom B;and1egF, the spring and presentingthe drawers d to be extended pawl or stop H, with rod hand treadle, subthrough said openings to expose the drawer. stantialiy as and for the purpose shown.

or to have its face flush with the outside sur- WILLIAM S. SHURTLEFF. face of rim 0, substantially as shown and de- Witnesses: scribed. i R. F. HYDE,

3. In combination with the carrier D, and T. M. BROWN. 

